Anyone have a bad experience with flu shots?

lauryn122300

On Monday I had a flu shot along with a pneumonia shot as well. The nurse gave them both in the same arm at the same site which from what my nursing friend told me is a big no no you should do one in each arm. Within hours the injection site had swelled to the size of a baseball. I didn't think much of it swelling and all that jazz sometimes comes with getting a flu shot though I had never experienced before. By the next day I was running fever, couldn't even lift my arm to scratch my back it hurt so bad, my arm was extremely red and warm to the touch and the swelling had crept down almost to the crease of my elbow and continued under my elbow. The moment the doctor saw me when I went back he immediately knew I had an infection. I ended up having to get two more shots one in each hip (antibiotic and cortisone) and am now on oral antibiotics for the next two weeks. It looked fine this morning when I went in for my follow-up like I had just been bitten by a mosquito and had a huge bite :laugh: Needless to say about an hour later and the redness has returned in full force and so had the warmness to the touch :mad: Has anyone else had this much trouble with a shot before? Needless to say I will never get this done at my doctor's office again.

KCharron20

My daughter received a flu shot on a Thursday. Saturday afternoon we noticed that she had huge blotches all over her body. We took her to her pediatrician and ended up having to take her by ambulance to Children's Hospital. She had a massive allergic reaction to it. At first the doctor's told us that there was no way it was the flu shot because the reaction should have been the same day. But months later, once her system was healed, they tested her again for it and she immediately started breaking out. Also, she is not allergic to eggs. She can never have a flu shot again.

lauryn122300

That sounds miserable I'm glad she's ok though. I've never had a reaction like this so it took me by surprise especially after it started to swell down my arm. My doctor told me straight up that was not normal. Shockingly I have not seen the nurse who gave me the shots so either she got let go or she just wasn't around when I went in. I will probably never get another flu shot again unless it is a life or death situation.